WRITTEN IN THE STARS FOR SIGNS AND TIMESGenesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. Ancient Egypt and Babylon were the first civilizations to study the stars, and in Babylon around the time of the birth of Jesus, some wise men called Magi, who were scholars and astronomers noticed something extraordinary in the heavens. For centuries the Magi (where our word magic comes from) had studied the Jewish prophecies passed down during Israel’s captivity in Babylon, and those prophesies included the foretelling of a Messiah. When an unusually bright convergence of planets began to shine as an apparent brilliant star in the eastern sky, they interpreted it as the sign of a great ruler’s birth. The Bible says that the stars speak forth the knowledge of God, and we see that that includes the birth of Jesus. Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God and his splendour is written in the stars. Day after day utters knowledge and the night sky unveils knowledge to us all. Their instruction (qaw - rule) has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. - The life of Jesus, as the Word astonishingly revealed in the heavenly stars. And God said to Job, ‘Can you lay out Mazzaroth (from Nazar – divine purpose - Strongs Concordance says the 12 signs of the Zodiac- the path or the way) Do you know the ordinances (prescribed arrangement) of the heavens? Can you ordain their authority over the earth? (Job38:32) The Godly significance of this cannot be ignored or dismissed. But this knowledge was corrupted in ancient times, firstly through idolatry to the Egyptian sun god Ra where calculations of the positions of the stars was used for the building and usage of the pyramids. And the popular use of the zodiac in today’s world is associated with superstition and fortune telling. Counterfeiting is robbery - robbing God of glory for the trickery of man.But in the Babylonian main temple depictions of the zodiac reveal archaeological findings that the zodiac was associated with the biblical Tower of Babel. indicating that the current naming of the constellations was of Babylonian origin thought to be around 500 years BC – this roughly coincides with Daniel’s ministry to the king during the captivity of Israel and the Bible says that Daniel was ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm(Daniel 1:20). I am only joining Scriptural dots there and inferring the Daniel connection, and there is no solid historical documentation of various other cultures and constellation names. Remarkably however, the original twelve Babylonian constellations start with the sign of Virgo and end with the sign of Leo. The depiction of Virgo is a sphinx, with the face of a woman and the body of a lion, a clue to the beginning and end points of the life of Jesus, representing the virgin birth and Jesus returning as the Lion of Judah to complete the message of the Gospel - because remarkedly again the 12th zodiac sign is that of Leo the lion. The constellations in between tell the astounding story of the life and ministry of Jesus for humanity. The second sign is Libra, the scales that weigh humanity in the balance after the creation of Adam, followed by Scorpio, denoting the fall of mankind through the attack of darkness upon humanity. We may look at the compelling story of the other constellations more closely at another time. Back to the Christmas story. The Magi (and the Bible doesn’t say how many) set out on a long journey westward to where this bright star shone. The Gospel of Matthew says In the days of Herod the king, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it arose and have come to worship him (Matthew 2:1).Their inquiries about the “new king of the Jews” reached the ears of